164 Anniversary Address. 



whether or no one is so, the excursions of this Club must 

 afford very great enjoyment to many individuals from the 

 variety of pleasing scenes which the Club visits, and the 

 variety of pursuits that the Club encourages among its 

 members. In the first instance no doubt Botany, Orni- 

 thology, and Entomology were the main objects of the Club ; 

 but as the Natural History of the district, extensive as our 

 wanderings are, is pretty well worked up, so many other 

 subjects have come on for research and notably Architecture, 

 Geology, and Archaeology. The history of the three counties 

 to which our rambles principally extend is being well 

 worked up by the Club, and in time our Transactions will 

 afford a pretty complete history of every parish and hamlet 

 in Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, and North Northumberland. 

 It is right and fitting that the history of such a district 

 should be thus chronicled, for surely no part of England or 

 Scotland is richer in history of its own than this Border- 

 land, where scarce any hamlet is without its legend or con- 

 nection of some kind with the stormy scenes of the past ; 

 nor is any name of note or of any degree of antiquity 

 without its share of those troubled times. 



It is curious to note the difference in bulk of the Trans- 

 actions of the Club now and in its early days ; one small 

 volume contains the Transactions of seven or eight years up 

 to 1850 or even later. Now those of three years form a 

 bulky volume. I well remember at an Annual Meeting 

 some ten years ago — perhaps more, perhaps a little less — 

 Sir Walter Elliot encouraging all members to contribute 

 what they could to the work of the Club so as to swell its 

 publications, asserting that every one could add some piece 

 of information to the general stock. Well — his advice has 

 surely been followed. Our Transactions are so voluminous 

 now that I, at any rate, can scarcely find time to 

 read them. Do not think that I am finding fault; the 

 bulk of the information is both valuable and useful, and to add 

 to what I said above, our Transactions in time will form a 

 sort of Cyclopaedia of all information relating to our district, 

 including Natural History, Geology, Archaeology, aud our 



